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Gravel:  I’ve Just Begun to Fight

Democratic presidential candidate Mike Gravel is making headlines again. As has been reported around the blogosphere, Gravel was not invited to the upcoming presidential debate being hosted by the Human Rights Campaign and the LOGO Network. The former Senator from Alaska, clearly unhappy about not being included in the candidates' forum, has released a statement this afternoon on HuffingtonPost.com. In it, he addresses his unwavering support for repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," his condemnation of General Peter Pace's remarks about gays, and calls on the other candidates to join him in making a unique pledge: "I have also challenged my fellow candidates to join me in publicly pledging that whoever gets elected, he or she will issue an apology on behalf of the federal government to the 100,000 gays and lesbians who were discharged by the military for their sexual orientation," Gravel writes. "No other candidate has joined me in that pledge." In fact, an apology would not be unprecendented. The British military recently did just that: an explicit apology to those who were discharged under their (now repealed) ban on open service. As we reported in the early days of Gravel's campaign, he stopped by the SLDN offices to meet with our staff and learn more about how he could be helpful in pushing for repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." We're enormously grateful for his outspoken support and for lending his voice to the campaign for repeal. In today's posting, Gravel notes that ". . . I'm going to rejoin the battle with even more determination to advance the gay rights discussion during the other debates. So stay tuned, because this old soldier has only just begun to fight." All of us at SLDN are proud to have him fighting on our side. - Steve Ralls

Labels: 2008, Gravel

07-12-07